L.A. Carnage

It was exactly 30 days ago and counting when I nearly sickened myself by, within the span of two weeks, consuming three expertly seared, bloody delicious slabs of medium rare filet mignon, an equally red marinated skirt steak and an In-N-Out burger -- secret spread, grilled onions and all. Indeed, it was all beef, all the time that really signaled my farewell to meat and poultry last month in honor of my yearly non-denominational Lenten sacrifice.
And it is beef that now -- three-quarters of the way through with this 40-day pescetarianism -- I am lusting after with pure envy. Oh, don't get me wrong. I would inhale chicken, turkey, pork chops, bacon, pancetta, Vienna-freaking-sausage this instant if it wouldn't, in fact, make my ears ring with that which shalt not be spoken aloud, even in my psyche's worst nightmares: "You are CLANG! a quitter CLANG!, lacking CLANG! in both resolve and commit-CLANG!-tal!" OK, OK, I get it.So I'll soldier on with my utterly mercury-laden diet of fish sticks, tuna melts, fried eggs and cheese for another 10 or so days. But be ye warned: The end is in sight. And more than poultry's versatility or the entire category's chewy texture, heft and solidity, I am specifically craving that juicy, oozing, dripping, scarlet goodness known only to beef.And when the clock strikes midnight on Easter Sunday, I will have my beef. And I will continue having my beef for days and days after, just to end this drasted challenge like it started. Please join me, while I drool:

Soot Bull Gim 2, Koreatown -- Rare, thinly sliced brisket dunked in salty sesame oil and shoved with a few leaves of lettuce inside a slippery thin rice paper wrapper. Marinated short ribs. Bulgogi topped with charcoal-grilled kimchi.

25 Degrees, Hollywood -- A thick ground sirloin patty dripping to the tune of medium rare and melty gruyere. Strewn with strings of savory caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms before being capped and dipped on each bite into a creamy garlic aioli.

R.H. Garden or Miscellaneous Hong-Kong-style 24/7 Cafe, Rowland Heights -- Sizzling beef udon noodles. Sizzling beef. Udon noodles. Enough said.

Just Say No to Cake

But really, how could anyone say no to these eyes?
I somehow found myself in the position of modeling a cake after the still-elusive Wall-E robot from Disney*Pixar's upcoming movie of the same name. As the deadline loomed, I still wasn't sure how I would put together the dirt-covered, rusty creature out of batter and sugar, but where there's a will, there's a ... cake. A 7-inch-high cake.

In the end, my artsy friend Annie helped with the details -- as in, basically, 95 percent of the cake decorating -- and the bane of my existence -- er, cake -- was finished on time. I would not recommend trying this at home. We opted for no appendages because we just didn't want to deal. Hm. Do you see the resemblance?

...What? You don't?

Super Bowl Spritz Cookies

The cookie gun strikes again.

In honor of the big day when people all across the country pretend they like football, I unholstered my cookie press to make some football-shaped spritz cookies. I used a chocolate recipe -- good, but not as good as the plain, almond-flavored cookies in my previous post -- and the rectangular disk design at the top right of this image. To get that rectangular cookie shown in the image, you'd have to shoot the cookie out and drag it across the sheet. But when the cookie is pressed onto the baking sheet, the dough compresses perfectly into these football shapes. Touchdown!

Super Bowl Spritz Cookies
(from Wilton Chocolate Spritz Cookies)

1 1/4 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract and blend.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda well. Add in small doses to creamed mixture, until wet and dry ingredients come together into a soft dough.

Working with dough at room temperature, form roughly into a log and cram/push into cookie press until full. This dough will result in about five refills of the cookie press.

Press (shoot) cookies onto ungreased, room-temperature baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes until cookies are set.

Cool. Frost with basic icing, if desired.

I mixed a basic white frosting out of powdered sugar and a dab of milk, scooped it into a sandwich bag, snipped off a minuscule piece of the corner, then striped on the football stitching.

Restaurant Week Comes to L.A. Jan. 27

I think I've died and gone to heaven. I've been to restaurant weeks in New York and Miami, but I've never seen it in L.A. I will be starving myself dutifully over the next week in anticipation of the big event, which goes from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1, and Feb. 3 to Feb. 8.

What is Restaurant Week, you ask? Oh, Angelenos, get yourself some culture. The gist is that high-end restaurants offer a three-course menu (appetizer, entree, dessert) for a set price. L.A. Restaurant Week has its own take on it, offering two price levels for different types of restaurants: $15 (deluxe) or $22 (premier) for lunch; $25 or $34 for dinner. Either way you go, they're all great prices.

See a list of participating restaurants, then book a reservation (quick!) on OpenTable or by calling the restaurant directly.

By the way, my goal is to have a restaurant week meal every day over the course of the event. So pick a date and book me before someone else does! Some must-hits for me? Ruth's Chris, Katsuya, Sushi Roku, the Palm...


Update 3/01/08:
Ruth's Chris - Best deal of the week.
Cobras y Matadors - Well-flavored and great for sharing.
Dakota - Food good but not good enough, disappointing, drafty.
Luna Park - Cute and comfortable-yet-hipster ambiance, with big portions.
Ruth's Chris - So good I went back again.

Spritz, Spritz Cookies

I am such a follower. But you know what? I'm OK with that if it leads me to new and better things. Better always for someone else to taste-test the goods before I drop dead eating them, right? Right. Not that I'm wishing any harm on you, Lisa.

This uber domestic diva has lead me to some pretty wacky things, which I've always embraced whole-heartedly: hot yoga, knitting, and now...cookie guns. Luckily, I'm a lover, not a fighter. The only things popping out of the barrels of this gun are flowers -- tiny, delicate, blue-dotted flowers no bigger than 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I tried the scary contraption out just 24 hours after my friend gifted me it for Christmas. Yay, experiments!

Cookie guns -- or cookie presses, as the rest of the world likes to call them -- make what are known as spritz cookies by pushing a soft sugar-cookie dough out of a choice of variously shaped disks to form cute, professional-looking cookie shapes. For this batch, I used Wilton's recipe for spritz cookies, as I've recently had great results with the company's roll-out sugar cookie recipe (but that's a post for another day).

Spritz, Spritz Cookies
(from Wilton Classic Spritz Cookies)

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extracts and blend.

In a small bowl, mix flour and baking powder well. Add in small doses to creamed mixture, until wet and dry ingredients come together into a soft dough.

Working with dough at room temperature, form roughly into a log and cram/push into cookie press until full. This dough will result in about five refills of the cookie press.

Press (shoot) cookies onto ungreased, room-temperature baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes until edges of some cookies are just beginning to brown.

Cool. Frost with basic icing or dip in chocolate or icing, if desired.

Homemade Sweetened Lime Juice and Sweet-and-Sour Mix

I am by no means a bar connoisseur, but I have been drinking vodka gimlets almost exclusively for a few years. OK, OK, maybe eight glasses of water a day and a few vodka gimlets to finish me off. OK, OK, just kidding. Maybe.

Gimlets contain only two ingredients, really: vodka and sweetened lime juice. Most bars carry the bottled Rose's Lime Juice -- the lime alternative to Grenadine -- for this sort of thing. However, gimlets made with homemade (bar-made) lime juice blow the bottled stuff away. They are less tart, more sweet and just great for sucking down.

Homemade Sweetened Lime Juice

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup fresh lime juice

Make a simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken slightly. Cool.

Mix syrup with lime juice and chill until cold.

Keeps for one week, covered, in the refrigerator.

or try

Homemade Sweet-and-Sour Mix

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Make a simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken slightly. Cool.

Mix syrup with lime and lemon juices and chill until cold.

Keeps for one week, covered, in the refrigerator.

More tips:
The simple syrup can be made without boiling by dissolving the sugar in lukewarm water and shaking very well. The viscosity may be affected, yielding a thinner syrup that's probably just more of a sweet water. Same dealio.

For my dieting-while-drinking sisterhood here in L.A., substitute Splenda for the sugar in these recipes and play with liquid amounts to achieve a good sour-sweet balance.

Is It Mulled Wine or Spiced Apple Cider?

Having immigrated to the U.S. of A. and gotten together in the '70s, my parents owned a Crock Pot decorated with lovely brown detailing, like every other good, old, American family. And, as with every other useless appliance in our home, it was brought out no more than once a year, to remind us why we had a garage (remember those white, single-bladed hand mixers? or sandwich irons? ice cream makers?). I explain because this is why an innocent, second-generation Filipino child like myself would have grown up having hot, spiced apple cider around the holidays. Ahh, new American traditions.

But my parents have been keeping something from me. Apparently, one can substitute wine for the cider brewing in the slow cooker and it is a perfectly acceptable holiday beverage. Who knew? I first tried hot, mulled wine at work, of all places, when we were "testing" some comped Crock Pots. Sold, I researched recipes for mulling spices and brewed up another batch for a holiday party I hosted the next night. My addition of apple cider to the mix -- a tip from my coworker -- helps tone down the harshness of the wine as it heats up and becomes more potent.

Tip: Conveniently assemble this before your guests arrive so they can't tell you're dumping the cheap stuff in this. Trader Joe's Charles Shaw "Two-Buck Chuck" works perfectly!

Spicy, Hot Mulled Wine-Cider
(don't fret, all amounts are scrappable and flexible)

2 750mL-bottles of dry red wine, i.e. Cabernet Sauvignon
750 mL apple cider or apple juice, to taste
1/2 cup brown sugar, to taste
1 orange, sliced, rind reserved
3 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
20 whole cloves
8 whole allspice
4 peppercorns
pinch grated nutmeg

cheesecloth
4-quart slow cooker*

Pour two bottles of wine into slow cooker.

Add apple cider to slow cooker a little bit at a time, tasting to determine desired potency and flavor. Set slow cooker to high heat.

Peel rind from orange with a vegetable peeler, avoiding white pith, so it forms strips.

Rinse and wring a 12"x12" square of cheesecloth. Add orange rind, cloves, allspice and peppercorns. Bundle into a small sack, tie off with kitchen string or strip of cloth and add to slow cooker to seep.

Slice used orange -- or a new orange, to preserve the pretty orange-rind border -- into rounds and add, along with cinnamon sticks and pinch of nutmeg, to slow cooker.

Add brown sugar a little bit at a time to slow cooker and stir, tasting to determine desired sweetness.

Slow cooker may take up to 3 hours at high heat to sufficiently warm the liquid. Once mulled wine has reached desired temperature and flavor, turn heat to low and remove spice sack, respectively.

Makes about 20 mug-fulls.

*Can be made over low heat on the stove. However, take great care not to allow the wine to come to a boil, or you will lose all the warm, alcohol-y goodness.

The Best Restaurants in L.A. for...

I love dining out. I can't get enough; there's just too much good food out there to be preparing my own meals every night. Here are some of the best of my best.

IMHO, The Best Restaurant in L.A. for...

...happy hour is a tie between Gyu-Kaku and The Original Cha Cha Cha in West Hollywood

...all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue is Manna in Koreatown, though I have a mind to try out Soot Bul Gui Rim 2 after some great Yelp reviews

...ramen is Daikokuya in Little Tokyo (photo by Yelper Dave K.)

...gourmet burgers is 25 Degrees at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood

...California-style sandwiches is a tie between the turkey pesto panini at Aroma Cafe in Studio City and the pressed chicken, bacon and brie at Joan's on Third by the Beverley Center

...late-night drunk food is BCD Tofu House in Koreatown

...pancakes is Bloom's lemon ricotta variety in mid-city

...affordable, quality sushi combo plates is Katsu-Ya in Studio City

...waffles is Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in Hollywood

...seafood soup is the zuppa del golfo at Ago Restaurant in West Hollywood

...French-pressed coffee is Eight-18 in Toluca Lake

...Indian food is Lal Mirch in Studio City

...unknown Italian food is Tino's Restaurant in North Hollywood/Valley Village

...tuna melts (with a steaming bowl of so-so chicken noodle soup) is Doughboys in Hollywood

...potato balls and Cuban cortaditos is Porto's Bakery in Burbank and Glendale

...unaffected French bistro fare is Cafe Flore in Beverly Hills

...slightly affected, affordable French bistro fare is Bistro Provence in Burbank

...legit Filipino food is Salo-Salo Grill in Artesia (so

...tacos is the taco truck parked on the south side of the Target parking lot in North Hollywood

...garlic is Zankou Chicken in Little Armenia (East Hollywood)

Wondering about where to get the best of any other food genres? Let me know -- I'm sure I'd have an opinion. Or, if not, I will gladly visit a sampling of restaurants to form one. Especially if you're footing the bill.not L.A., but this one is tried-and-true good. I've heard the Glendale location isn't great.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

I first made my red velvet cupcakes using this recipe for whipped cream cheese frosting. Light, airy and cream cheesy, the flavor and texture was delicious. We piped the yumminess onto the cupcakes as if dispensing fro-yo and the interplay between the flavors of the cake and the frosting was unmatched. Unfortunately, our spirals didn't hold up too well once they sat outside of the refrigerator for too long, even in the cooler air of a California winter. It is for that reason alone that I now stick to the very stable Sprinkles' Cream Cheese Frosting for my red velvet cupcake needs.

Still, this frosting was good -- fuller and richer than a frosting without the whipped cream. Use this frosting for any cake that will have a close relationship with the fridge.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
(from allrecipes.com)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Fold in whipped cream.

Frosts 24 cupcakes.